Car or navigable balloons.



PATBNTBD JAN. 29 1907.

P. H. UNSINGERK OAR 0F NAVIGABLE BALLOONS. APPLICATION FILED HA3 9, 1906 UNITED sTATEs PATENT OF I E.

PHIICIP H. 'UNSINGER, or TOLEDO, OHIO.

CAli OF NAVIGABLE \BALLOQNS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 29, 1907.

Applioatiou filed March 9,1906. seriamasoalai". 4

To all whmn it may concern/.2

Be it known that I, PHILIP H. UNsINGER, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Toledo, in the county of Lucasand State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Cars of Navigable Bal loons; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description ofthe invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawin s, and to thefigures of reference marked t ereon, which form a part of this specification.

My invention relates to navlgableballoons or those fitted with some form of propellin machinery whereby the balloon is navigate and made to move to a certain extent independently of the direction and velocity of the wind.'

The object of my invention is to sim lify and improve upon the construction an operation of the motive and controlling means in balloons of this type" whereby themovegated in a plane disposed at an angle to a:

ment of the balloon is more perfectly under the control and management of the operator and the balloon-body and its car maintained; in substantially a level or horizontal positioni during a simultaneous propelling and raising! or lowerin movement, thus avoiding an inclmatlon o the balloon when 1t 1s 'bemgnavb,

orizontal plane. k To this end the invention consists of oertain novel features of construction, combina-; tion, and arrangement of the arts, as is; hereinafter fully described and which is? illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a top plan view of the ballooncar embodying my invention; Fig. 2, a side elevation thereof; and Fi s. 3 and 4 crosssections thereof, taken on t e dotted lines 3 3 and 4-4, respectively, in Fig. 2.

Referring to the drawings, 5 represents the three longitudinal frame members or beams of the car comprising my invention. These beams are disposed in trian lar relation, as shown in Figs. itand 4, and. ave their corresponding ends meeting in a bearing-bracket 6 at each end of the car and their intermediate portions spaced apart and braced by a series of trans erse connecting-pieces 7, as shown. The frame members 5 and '7 are preferably formed of tubing in order to provide a light andat the same time rigid and strong construction.

c Carried by th car or frame longitudinally thereof is a shaft 8, which has its ends jour-' naled in and extending beyond the bearingbrackets 6 6 and its intermediate portion Carried on the shaft extension with each propeller is a four-armed spider 15, which has the end of its lower vertical arm mounted for movementin a slotted segmental guidingarm 16, one of which aiding-arms is disposed at each'end ,of t e frame orcar, as

shown. Vertical and horizontal oscillatorymovements are imparted to the two propellers by the operation ofthe levers17 and 18, respectively, the former ofwhich is connectedwith the upper vertical arm 15 ofeach spider through the medium of the rods 19, thus causing a movement of the lever to effect opposite oscillations of the two ropellers, or, in other words, maintain t em in, constant parallelism whatever may be the" angles of the shaft extensions relative 'to the major portion of the shaft, as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 2. The latter lever 18 instead of connecting with corresponding arms of the two spiders, as does the lever 17, con--- nects with the reversehorizontal arms 15" thereof through the diagonally-disposed connecting-rods 20, while t e other two horizontal arms of the spiders are connected by the single rod 21, thus causing a movement of the lever to effect corresponding horizontal oscillations to the twopropellers, as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1. The levers 17 and 18 are pivoted at their lower ends to a crosspiece 22 of the frame and project abovethe top member 5 of the frame in advance of the- 'operators' seat 23, which is shown as being carried-by said upper frame member. Coiled contraction-springs 24 24 normally tend to;

draw the lower verticalarms of the spiders 15 inwardly toward the car or frame. A sprocket-wheel 25 .iscarried' by the shaft 8 and is driven by an engine, motor, or other suitable power-energizing means 26, which fs s is mounted on a supplemental frame or platform 27, suitably secured. to the baseof the frame or car. Itwill be apparent with this manner of controlling the movements of the balloon that when it is desired to cause the balloon'to take a course at an angle toa hori-- 'zontal plane for the purpose of ascending or descending, the lever 17 ismoved sufficiently in the proper direction to cause'the axes of the propellers to both assume the plane in which it is desired to move.

The adjustment of the two propellers in opposite-directions relative to the shaft 8 Y causes the forward end of the carto be pulled and the rear end thereof to be pushed upwardly' or downwardly, as the case may be, by equal propelling forces, so that the car maintains a level position during an ascending or descending movement.

When it is desired to turn the balloon vor cause it to move in a circle, the lever 18 is tensions may moved in the proper direction and the propellers thereby caused to take positions on the same side of the shaft 8, one of which lee vers acts to pull the forward en-dof the car around and the other to push the rear end around, thus making it possible to describe a much shorter turn than would be the case were'only one, propeller used... Itis also possible by reason ,of the swivel or universal movement of the shaft extensions to cause them, by proper'manipiilation of the two levers, to describe circles around the normal or. J straight positions thereof, whereof the axes of the propellers may assume positions at angles both to horizontal and vertical planes,

so that the balloon may be causedto move laterally at the same time it is ascending or descending. r Y

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and'desire to secure by LettersPatent, is- I 1. In a balloon-car, a horizontal shaft having its endsprojecting beyond thecar ends and provided withextensions having a swivel movement relative thereto, a propeller carried. by each extension, controlhng means ing its ends formed with univers'ally-mov able extensions, means for driving the shaft, a propeller carried by each extension, and means for imparting adjustment to the shaft extensions whereby their axes are disposed atangles to the major portion of the shaft and lie in substantially parallel planes 4. In a balhdon-car, a propeller-shaft having its ends formed with universally-11lovable extensions, means for driving the shaft, a propeller carried by each shaft extension, and mechanism for imparting both an opposite and a corrcspoluling, angular adjustment of the extensions relative to the shaft.

5. In a balloon-ear, a propeller-shaft having its ends provided with universally-adjustable extensions, means for driving the shaft, a propeller carried by each extension,

means for causing the shaft extensions to assume corresponding positions latcraily of the shaft, and means for causing the extensions to assume opposite positions "OltlCtLll of the shaft.

6. In a balloon-car, a propeller-shaft having its ends provided with universally-connected extensions, means for propelling the shaft, a spider and-a propeller carried by each extension, and controller means conmeeting the two spiders adapted to impart horizontal oscillation simultaneously toeach.

7. In a balloon-car, a propeller-shaft havingits ends provided with universally-adjustablexextensions, means for driving the shaft, a spider and a propeller. earned by each extension, means connecting the 11011- zontal arms of the two spiders for imparting corresponding'nlovements to the two exten sions, and -means connecting the vertical arms of the spiders for imparting opposite movements thereto.

8. In a balloon-car, a propeller-shaft having its ends universally adjustable relative to its major ortion, means for driving the shaft, a spi er and a propeller carried by each adjustable shaft end, a segmental guiding member for the lower spider-arm, means connectmg the upper arm of each spider for 1mparting opposite vertical adjustments to the ropellers, and means colmecting the reverse orlzontal arms of the spiders for imparting corresponding oscillations to the propellers.-

In testimony whereof I have hereunto signed this specification in the presehce of two subscribing witnesses.

' rrirLiP H. UNSINGER.

Witnesses: v a

' C. W. OivEN,

"ConnELL Sonnnnssn.

rc o 

